someday i might tell my children this when they tell me they've fallen in love.

happy new year.

after i got to rice and checked in with dennis, i went down to the rice student center basement, found some couches next to the student pub, and fell asleep until i woke to the sound of distant, but distinct strains of live music. "oh crap, i slept through sound check!" but luckily, i only slept through the other band's sound check.

i entertained the ever good-looking danny mee (from the jonx) with a lesson in utilitarian origami as we waited for the first opening band to finish their soundcheck, which actually devolved into a freestyle jam session that lasted one hour long. we made origami cups. danny didn't really believe that the cups were actually watertight, so i poured some citrus-chamomile tea into the cup. not knowing what it was, he drank it. "what is this?"

there is no such thing as a free lunch, unless you as a musician and willing to eat anything. elizabeth (of the reputation) left the first opening band's extended soundcheck to snag free pizza from the student center commons, which an extremely friendly older man (presumably a campus christian youth group leader or something) had offered me earlier in the evening. i didn't eat any. there's no such thing as a free lunch.

the show was loud and good. i didn't break any strings, and i could hear myself. this was the debut of "love song for a defeatist" with drums, and i have to say that it sounded better than i imagined it could sound.

people at the show were friendly. the audience wanted an encore, so i played "secret me" as per someone's (ms. cara's, i later found out) request. my friend chason said he saw two people mouthing my lyrics, but i think he was just telling me that to make me feel better about myself after telling me that i looked really nervous during some of the songs. those were probably the songs where three of the four members of the reputation parked themselves right in front of the stage to watch my set. i was pleased, but yes, i was a little more nervous than i would have been if the band watching me were some despicable band, even a famous despicable band, like say, creed. (didn't creed break up a few months ago?)

the power strip shorted during the reputation's set because their rock required more electricity than i did, but it was clear that the band had spent seven weeks on the road battling all kinds of impromptu crises, because they managed to resuscitate the power and convince the crowd of diehard reputation fans not to cry. they played a short set. i think they were either tired or anxious to get started on the drinking.

a girl named __ offered me a sip of her martel. i suggested she offer elizabeth some, and so she obtained four cups from subway and filled them with a bottle of martel that she just happened to be carrying with her on campus in a backpack. i don't drink, but i love the idea of a wet campus. __ was really cool, but i can't remember her name now, because all i could remember was some story about how the reputation kept getting her mixed up with some other fan named gracie. ___, if you're out there, please reintroduce yourself. you're really f***ing cool.

the only thing that irked me about tonight was that not one, not two, but three of the people i put on guest lists didn't show up. i only had five guestlist slots and could have given them to other people who had asked me to be on the guestlist, but who had asked me after i had already given the slots away. if

i have a flight to california in a few hours. time for bed -- or more bug killing. the latest infestation at my house: meat flies. which is odd because i don't eat meat.

good days, bad days
worst case scenarios
silence is the sound i fear the most
you don't have to tell me
that everything's too late
the ugliness has faded
into things we'll never say

at this particular moment, i have no more words, except for this nice
haiku i found on salon.com:

Gullible Red States
You know not what you have done
Too bad for the rest

i have to note, though, that despite the negative overtones of the posts i made during the tour -- mostly influenced by limited internet time and pressing factors like "need to get a new cello! right-this-minute!" -- we had fun on the tour. soon to come: a visual diary of our tour, as illustrated by foods we ate during it.

for the moment though, i am -- behind in everything! things i need to do: (1) work for ALL. MY. CLASSES. so very behind right now (2) send the letter i hand-wrote during the tour for a certain denver area artist, (3) deal with el raton. the one that lives in my bathroom. i hear thuds, scratches, and the occasional squeak, and it's freaking me out, (4) accounting, and (5) eat some fruit. i haven't for quite some time.

does anyone in nyc have a cello that we can
borrow or does anyone know anyone in nyc w/ a
cello we can borrow? alternately, can anyone
recommend a quality, not-too-expensive luthier in
the city? please email me at annie@annielin.com
or call me at (713) 927 0045.

thanks so much guys.

xox

annie

brown university show was tonight; more on this later.

i made it to my friend kelvin's apartment at columbia university
teacher's college, and he's making me dinner now. kelvin likes stuffed
animals too. he wears a tiny stuffed totoro on a chain on his belt in
the same way that a rocker might wear a wallet on a chain.

does anyone have any neil young suggestions -- songs or albums that i absolutely must check out?

Unfortunately, I seem to have locked my combo to the computer lab INSIDE the computer lab, so I had to drink elsewhere. Elsewhere = place with no internet connection. Hopefully you can deal with the late posting.

The roadtrip to Denton started very very late, and was fraught with many dangers, including a fiery car, and umm.. a beef jerky store that I really really wanted to go to but we were running late and didn't know if they would still be open. Very scary things. Nothing much interesting happened on the trip there besides talking about Very Important Things and also Annie completely schooling me in that game she mentioned in an earlier post, where one tries to name esoteric band names.

I think the only reason she plays that game is to show off her encyclopedic knowledge of obscure indie bands. Although I TOTALLY had her beat in the area of 80s hair metal. Styx Forever.

Once we finally made it to Denton, we unwisely (you'll find out why later) decided to get a bite to eat before the show, and stopped by this nice little restaurant (comparable to Baba Yega in Houston) whose name escapes me (Green somethingoranother?). This is where Annie informed me that she belongs to a special religious order that only believes in useful origami. Thats one scary freaking cult, if you ask me. She demonstrated a few box creation techniques with her napkin, but I warded her off with a silver cross. Needless to say, the rest of the patrons thanked me afterwards.

More tomorrow! Stay tuned!

In any case, our story begins with an ominous instant messenger conversation that went something along these lines:

annie: I hate traveling alone.
chason: I like snickers bars.
annie: I sure wish I had a friend who would go with me to Denton this weekend.
chason: Well, I sure as hell wish I had a friend who would buy me a snickers bar.

And thus, the journey began. Well, it did not actually begin until a few days later but you get the picture. Of course, when I signed up for this journey I did not expect to have to lift heavy things. But alas, she made me her "roadie" and ordered me around like a common cur! What other indignities did transpire on our journey? Check back later tonight after I drink some beer and find out!

i talked on the phone a lot during this tour. here, you can tell from my facial expression that i was actually talking to someone i don't dislike.

busking at goh nakamura's japantown plaza show, which took place under one of the bluest skies i have ever seen. on this trip, min jung kim was singlehandedly forced me to try two new foods that i subsequently became addicted to: soy milk and water chestnuts (pictured above).

soundcheck and show at music millenium. henna looks good in that sound check photo. i look invisible. can you tell which converse sneakers are mine and which are henna? three points to the correct first guesser.

(points have no cash value and are not redeemable for anything of redeeming value. come now. do you think i'd give away all the most valuable points on such an easy question?)

the last few hours of the west coast tour were spent playing the band name game in an oakland hotel room (photos above, courtesy mister kris racer). to play the band name game, one person names a band, and the next person comes up another band that starts with last letter of the former band's name. if you're playing with someone well versed in the knowledge of obscure bands -- and believe me, someday i intend to marry someone with a greater knowledge of obscure bands than i do! -- then this game can last forever. for us, it lasted five hours and was cut short by fatigue and not a lack of band names.

you can give clues if someone can't think of a band name. henna was unable to decipher the totally awesome clue i gave her for the band these arms are snakes. it consisted of me waving my arms around madly and then falling over onto the bed.

#1.5 fan craig just informed me today that i don't update this blog quite enough, so i promise that more updates are coming. my friend/getaway driver chason will soon post an update on the weekend in denton, tx, so you can hear wax poetic about things like my theory of utilitarian origami, why we want to be like mariel t. and her boyfriend dwayne (hint: because they are so awesome!), and the roadside sonic burger where we could get no respect.